I recently stumbled across the "about" page of a blogger whom I consistently follow. Almost the first thing you see on this page is a casually posed picture of the blogger herself with perfectly touseled hair, an infinity scarf, a cross-body bag, a puffer vest, skinny jeans, and riding boots. Below said picture, the girl makes a joke about that picture itself being enough proof that she is a "blogger."
Hmmm.
Does posting selfies taken with your DSLR and tripod in a perfectly coordinated outfit with "outfit details" lined out beneath them make you a "blogger"? I would beg to differ. That photo proves that she is a Fashion Blogger, a Beauty Blogger, or a [life]Style Blogger, but just a "Blogger"?
When did blogging begin to be about where you got this or that scarf or table or rug or blouse or hairclip? About how many pageviews you got on a single post? About posting selfies with a professional sheen?
When did blogging cease to be about writing? Or did I just fall into the wrong crowd?
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say anything against fashion/beauty/style blogs. I follow a lot of them, and enjoy them, but that's not what I personally choose to post on my blog, so to corner "bloggers" with the generalization that they all wear top-knots and hipster glasses and post links to where they got all of their skirts seems a little bit much to me.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but this is by no means the first time I've seen this generalization.
I thoroughly enjoy this particular girl's blog. In fact, hers is one of my favorites. She is witty and entertaining, and she also happens to post a lot of "outfit posts" as do several other bloggers that I follow. But those posts are not the reason that I consider her a "blogger."
This girl is a blogger because she blogs. She blogs more regularly than any other blogger that I follow.
Are you getting tired of the words "blog" and "blogger" yet?
This is where the rubber meets the road for me. I have a hard time considering myself a "blogger" not because I don't post about my clothes or my furniture or my etsy business (don't have one to post about anyway), but because I don't post.
That, my friends, is a problem. I was horrified when I glanced at my archives the other day and realized that I only made 8 posts in 2013! What? That's crazy. And my writing elsewhere has suffered as well. It's time to get that back on track.
I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions and all that jazz (more on that tomorrow), but I have recently made a decision to write daily in a gratitude journal, and (hopefully) daily in a regular journal as well. I won't promise to write daily on this blog, but I will guarantee you you'll see more than 8 posts this year.
I believe we can even hope for more than 8 posts in January!
(Notice I didn't guarantee that.)
Hawaii
9 years ago
I'm glad you popped by my blog because now I am aware of yours :)
ReplyDeleteThe term "blogger" is something I've also had a hard time swallowing. I too have seen the perfectly polished photos and thought, "geez, if that is what a blogger is then I am definitely not one." Not because of the amount I post, but because I feel like my posts are inadequate in some way. In a way I can't identify and therefore can't fix. I used to be obsessed with my stats, thinking that if I reached a certain number of views then I would no longer feel like a faux blogger. While I wish I could say that I completely kicked that thought, I now try to focus on blogging for the joy of it. Every now and then I have to ask myself if I'm posting because I like the post myself or because I think it will be lots of views. A heart check of sorts. Hopefully all of that made sense because I'm finding it hard to explain.
Shakti, that absolutely made sense, and expressed a lot of what I've been feeling lately (which is probably why I set my blog on the back burner for a little while). You are so right about the importance of a "heart check" as we post. In any public writing, it seems there is so much of a concern with writing to a particular audience. But, as I recently read somewhere else, who's going to want to read our writing if it isn't written from our own heart?
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